QUOTING Selma:
"...Because for 4 centuries, one way or another the lives
of Catholic Goans have been entwined with that of the Portuguese.
To pretend otherwise is ridiculous. And while I do understand that
the history of Hindu Goans has been divergent, and we have to mindful
of that, they too should be mindful of our sentiments. This constant
harping against the Portuguese, is nothing but a sublimated sore."...
________________________
RE:
The pseudo-conclusive quote above from Selma is too loose
a generalisation to be true. It seems just as biased as the
quite inappropriately suggested 'Hindu sentiment'.
I have known some Hindus who, ensorcelled by the Portuguese,
were sympathetic to them. It is safer to say that a certain
faction of Goan society-in-G was sympathetic to the
Portuguese cause.(which was to subjugate and rule the indigenous
people in order to expand their imperialist order)
While the Hindu sentiment is a result of "a sublimated sore" -
(what is that supposed to mean, I wonder) - the pro-Portuguese
praise of the Goan Catholic is actually the sentiment of a
minority of Goan Elite. I do not expect a great many gawde's
and kundbies - although they may be Catholics - to share this
pro-Portuguese sentiment.
"This constant harping against the Portuguese", seems to be
post-liberation sentiment of Goans(for this "harping" was
possible only after the liberation of Goa!)against the
Chauvinistic, hopelessly open hankerings of a minority for
the erstwhile & undemocratic foreign rule.
The reason why it still hankers after the evil Portuguese rule
is obvious.
In democratic India it is not possible for the Feudal elite
to satisfy their Feudal tendencies. Their minion, the mundkar,
has earned the right to debate with the Bhatkar, by virtue of
having THE RIGHT TO EQUALITY safeguarded under the constitution
of The Free and Democratic India.
Personally, I respect anyone's need to befriend a foe
masquerading as a friend, yet when the argument is based on
"Because for 4 centuries, one way or another the lives of
Catholic Goans have been entwined with that of the Portuguese."
etc. I am alarmed. It is not only the Catholic Goans whose lives
have been entwined, but also the Hindus and other minorities of
the secular state.
I do not think that there was a great deal of antagonism between
Hindus and Christians in Goa earlier. I would like to believe that
there still is an admirable fellow-feeling between the two.
Charudatta Prabhudesai
